This is U Camelopardalis, a star that's 1,500 light years away from Earth, near the North Celestial Pole. U Cam, is at the end of its life, and there's erupting layers of material from time to time.

Every few thousand years, U Cam coughs up a nearly spherical shell of gas as a layer of helium around its core fuses. The gas ejected in the star's latest eruption can be seen in this picture, as a faint bubble of gas surrounding the star.

Space explosions. They are far more beautiful than anything else!

[NASA]